Anatomy of a Mini-Meltdown

Mark and I consider ourselves pretty lucky thus far. Avery has always been a WONDERFUL sleeper (except if she's teething she'll stir around a lot in the middle of the night), she's very even-tempered like her daddy. But within the last couple months she's had a few mini-meltdowns. I don't consider them full-blown temper tantrums yet, but she has just a few moments of real worrisome feelings when something isn't going just right. (She has to be pretty tired for something to really bother her though.) She's still easily distracted out of them, luckily! :) The pictures above are during her little meltdown I caught last night. She says, " Oh no," or "nooooooo," in the saddest little voice that really melts my heart. It seems that what triggers these is something that almost hurts her feelings more so than angers her. They're pretty precious... right now at least. :) And these pictures also really capture my photography philosophy which is capturing "real-life"! These pictures are very real-life for us and I'm sure other parents out there as well! I can look at these pictures and know exactly what Avery is feeling and saying at the moment and I love that! They "speak" to me and that's exactly what I look for in a picture!

In other exciting news, Avery is FINALLY taking her first steps. She can take about 6-8 at a time. We are so happy and excited. She's not to the point where she's walking to get from point A to point B, but she's toying with it more and more. She'll walk to get a toy if she's already standing and it's pretty close to her. Avery and Daddy have a game they play that really gets her walking. He pushes the ottoman far away from the couch and puts her toy piggy bank on it. He puts the coins to the bank on the couch. Avery takes a coin and walks it (about 6-7 steps) to the bank and puts it in. It is soooo cute. After she does it she screeches with delight and you can tell she's sooooo proud of herself! I don't have any shots of this yet... but I'm working on it.

This weekend, Avery and I went to Eastern WA with my mom. A girls weekend! My mom and I got a lot of scrapbooking done which was nice. The weather is cooling off over there, but it's still blue skies and sunny every morning when you wake up. On our way home, we stopped at a fruit stand and they really decorate their grounds beautifully every season. Avery had a great time playing on the pumpkins! I cannot wait to take her to the pumpkin farm in a few weeks!!! Enjoy....

Our Daily Necessities

Ok... so I've been trying to take some different pictures, not just pictures of Avery. It's harder than I thought it would be, but I also want to have her favorite things (of the moment) documented as well as just her! So here are a few. The absolute most important of Avery's ESSENTIAL necessities is her blankey. That one is hard to get a shot of because when I try to take it, just borrow it for a few minutes only, she'd rather not cooperate. So blankey will be coming shortly... hopefully! But first, let me tell you that I was inspired for this first photo by another blog that I stalk daily. It's www.lifescapturedmoments.blogspot.com. There's a photo of a bottle of Tylenol and a binky cause her family's been sick. I love the texture on that photo and I'm going to learn how to do all of that one of these days... Anyways... here's the pics!

These are pretty important right now since she just cut her first molar. I'd prefer to have her blankey in this shot too, but not happening:

Next... I'm so proud of Avery for LOVING these activities... must be the teacher in me or something:

Well, I don't know how I feel about the actual photos yet... definitely need to practice. You'd think shooting objects like the above would be easier. After all, they're not moving all over the place and trying to get away from the camera. Ha ha ha!

Finally....

...with the help of my husband (XOXO) and 2Peas, thank you ladies, I have a header for this blog that I really like! No pictures to post right now, hopefully I'll have some neat ones tomorrowo. Instead of shooting pics. just of my bug, I'm going to concentrate on her favorite things and things that are significant in our daily routines. I hope to play with colors and different textures too. I just purchased some new brushes and frames from 2Peas (LOVE this site) and I need to install them. Kind of procrastinating cause I'm not very good at figuring those types of things out. Wish me luck and stay tuned....

Under Construction

OK, so I finally learned how to customize my header, but it still doesn't look right! Grrrr.... The B&W photo is supposed to be to the far left of the header. Don't know what's going on. Any suggestions on sizing, resizing and getting this silly thing to fit right would be extremely welcomed!!

Sibling Day!

Recently, my mom and her brother and sisters have been trying to get together once a month to spend some quality time together. A few days ago, my mom hosted the get-together at her house and I was asked to come over and take pictures for them. They haven't had this done in a very long time and I think they turned out great! Grandma, if you see this, enjoy!!!

This black and white pictures is one of my favorites because if you don't know these people, this picture gives you a pretty good idea of their personalities. And I'm amazed I got as many normal shots as I did, cause this behavior is the kind I was working with the whole time! Ha ha! But the silly ones like this have turned out to be my favorites!

And last but not least, here's a couple I know my grandma will LOVE!:

Salsa, Salsa, Salsa!

At this time each year, my mom, aunts, cousins and I get together to make our homemade salsa for the year! Isn't it beautiful? Nothing like what you find in the grocery store. I really look forward to doing this because it's such a fun time! It's A LOT of work, let me tell you... chopping all of the freshest tomatoes, peppers, onions, chiles... then cooking it down and canning it. We all LOVE it though and it's become a tradition that I can't wait to share with my daughter. Avery wasn't with us though, she's still too little even just to be playing while we work. My cousins two precious boys were there though and of course I had my camera with me! Here they are in my aunt and uncle's garden picking tomatoes, peppers and chiles for the salsa-making. They're so sweet:

Avery and I are heading over to my mom's right now to do some more salsa making! Have a wonderful day!